English Standard Version
Job 21:4
4As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient?
Job 21:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
- New International Version (NIV)“Is my complaint directed to a human being? Why should I not be impatient?
- New King James Version (NKJV)“As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient?
- New Living Translation (NLT)“My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient.
Context of Job 21:4
2"Keep listening to my words, and let this be your comfort. 3Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on. As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient? 5Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand over your mouth. 6When I remember, I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh.
Read all of Job 21Job 21:4 word by word
הֶ֭אָנֹכִי לְאָדָ֣ם שִׂיחִ֑י וְאִם־מַ֝דּ֗וּעַ לֹא־תִקְצַ֥ר רוּחִֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 21:4
- Job 7:11"Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
- Job 10:1"I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
- 1 Samuel 1:16Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation."
- Psalms 22:1My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
- Psalms 77:3When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
- Psalms 102:1Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you!
- Psalms 142:2I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.
- Matthew 26:38Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me."
- 2 Kings 6:26Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, "Help, my lord, O king!"
- Psalms 42:11Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
- Exodus 6:9Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.
Commentaries on Job 21:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4As for me - האנכי heanochi, "Alas for me!" Is it not with a man that I speak? And, if this be the case, why should not my spirit be troubled? I do not reply against my Maker: I suffer much from God and man; why then may I not have the privilege of complaining to creatures like myself?Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4As for me, is my complaint to man? - There is some difficulty in the interpretation of this verse, and considerable variety of explanation may be seen among expositors. The “object” of the verse is plain. It is to state a reason why they should hear him with patience and without interruption. The meaning of this part of the verse probably is, that his principal difficulty was not with his friends, but with God. It was not so much what they had said, that…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. Job's difficulty was not as to man, but as to God, why He so afflicted him, as if he were the guilty hypocrite which the friends alleged him to be. Vulgate translates it, "my disputation." if it were--rather, "since this is the case."Read the comment
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries